Muifa Leaves 3 Dead, 2 Missing

Typhoon Muifa, which traveled north along the West Sea on Monday carrying winds of up to 40 meters per second and towering waves, inflicted huge damage to the coastal areas of South Jeolla, North Jeolla and South Chungcheong provinces, as well as the islands in the region. Three people were killed and two remain missing, while around 360,000 homes suffered power outages.

The country emerged from the effects of the typhoon at around 6 p.m. on Monday as it slammed into China and Sinuiju, North Korea, and was later downgraded to a storm.

Muifa's unpredictable trajectory since it developed into a tropical typhoon on Thursday puzzled weather officials. Kim Seung-bae, a spokesman for the Korea Meteorological Administration, said, "The KMA, as well as the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center and the Japan Meteorological Agency, all had a hard time predicting (its) path."

"It looks like cutting-edge science was unable to accurately predict the movement of the typhoon," he said.